The public reactivates electoral reform

M. Chernihiv. May 6, 2015

The development in the direction of the reform of electoral legislation was discussed on May 5 in Chernihiv. People’s and local deputies, political experts and civic activists have expressed their opinions on the concept of the new version of the Law “On Elections of People’s Deputies of Ukraine”, presented by Olga Aivazovskaya, coordinator of the election and parliamentary programs of the OPORA Civic Network, and Alexander Klyuzhev, analyst.

It is not advisable to hold local elections under the old election system without significant changes, and important legislative changes have not yet been adopted. Experts are convinced that the lack of progress in the electoral reform of the local and parliamentary elections and their subsequent delay can lead to a crisis of trust in the public and the expert environment to the ruling majority, violation of international obligations, in particular, to the European Union, the Council of Europe and the OSCE. That is why representatives of the Opora Civic Network, the Ukrainian Independent Center for Political Research and the Internews-Ukraine, with the support of the International Foundation for Election Systems, have developed the concept of the new version of the Law on Elections of People’s Deputies of Ukraine and on local elections, based on international democratic standards and practices.

At the end of November 2014, the parliamentary majority factions were recorded in a coalition agreement that a proportional electoral system with open lists would be introduced during the 1st quarter of 2015 for the election of the Ukrainian Parliament, as well as a significant change in local elections by late July. In particular, the introduction of a proportional electoral system with open lists is envisaged for holding local elections of city and regional councils and elections of city mayors of large cities in two rounds on the principle of an absolute majority.

According to the wordsAlexander Klyuzhev, who voiced the vision of election reform at the national level, proportional electoral system with regional open lists is fair from the point of view of the distribution of seats in accordance with the number of votes in the regional district, which the idea will be 28. The analyst also noted that the vote and the expert system may not be able to see.

In turn,Olga AivazovskayaIn particular, the local aspect, she emphasized that not only the most rational ideas, but also the least costly ideas were laid in the development of the concept. Yes, experts oppose the use of outdoor advertising for agitation during the election campaign, since the information, usually posted on media, is devoid of semantic load. Also, this resource is not budgetary and directly affects the existence of shadow financial schemes. In the context of savings, according to the expert, one should also talk about the election of mayors, where the number of tours will depend on the number of voters in a separate territory, as well as the gap between the first and second candidate, provided that 51% of them are not entered by one.

Experts emphasized that the process of reforming electoral legislation should be based on the principles of openness, transparency and inclusivity with the key role of parliament and the profile committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on legal policy and justice, as well as involving the expert environment in the development of appropriate legislative changes.